I’ve been working hard to adhere to a vegetarian diet for several weeks now. Over lunch today, while chomping on yet another VegiMax sandwich from Blimpie’s, I surfed the net for more information on the benefits of “going veg”. I found a wonderful article by Kathy Freston over at The Huffington Post from a few days ago. Go read it. It’s chock-full of incredible information. The gist:

Last month, the United Nations published a report on livestock and the environment with a stunning conclusion: “The livestock sector emerges as one of the top two or three most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems, at every scale from local to global.” It turns out that raising animals for food is a primary cause of land degradation, air pollution, water shortage, water pollution, loss of biodiversity, and not least of all, global warming.

…The researchers found that, when it’s all added up, the average American does more to reduce global warming emissions by going vegetarian than by switching to a Prius.

And, I might add, going veg is less expensive than a Prius, and the health benefits to your own body are well established. These facts can’t be ignored, even if the cruelty to factory farm animals doesn’t weigh on your conscience. The article was all the motivation I needed to get through that veggie sandwich, and dream about tonight’s blackbean burger.